A couple of months ago I watched Chris Voss Teaches the Art of Negotiation and Win Workplace Negotiations at MasterClass. As a former FBI lead hostage negotiator he has gained experience in an environment way harsher than business, where you are trying to convince your manager that the next quarter sales will be better and you should get that raise.

The class was clear and convincing to try the technique. You are given obvious and simple tools to use. Though sometimes I thought that it was almost overly straightforward. You, basically, could make a list of bullet points, and go through them during a meeting.

First build trust with mirroring and labeling, then you make any anticipated doubts dissipate with accusation audit, then strengthen influence with calibrated questions, and so on. You end with a couple more clearly defined phrases and steps to get to an agreement.

Sounds pretty simple, right? Though, as anyone who ever tried learning new life skills, you know that theory is not much if you don’t practice, don’t learn and don’t make it a habit.

So, simple and clear tools, that can be used as is with little to no tailoring.